


Let's Play Minecraft

by WayWardWatson



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Dorks, Friendship, Fun, Gen, Minecraft, Video Game Mechanics, based off their first Minecraft video
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-18
Updated: 2014-01-18
Packaged: 2018-01-09 03:41:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1140998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WayWardWatson/pseuds/WayWardWatson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So at any point, whether as a writer, artist, or serial killer, there is this need to challenge oneself to improve one's interest. Foolishly, I thought, what better way to improve my writing than by writing the Let's Play Minecraft video as a story - it's only 20 minutes long.</p><p>I was a fool.</p><p>Either way: </p><p>Enjoy this Let's Play Minecraft (Episode One) where all the dialogue is genuine and taken from the video.<br/>Brought to you by the soul of one stupid girl.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let's Play Minecraft

**Author's Note:**

> There will be another chapter and that will be it. I may come back and make this a series where I might write out other episodes, we will see.
> 
> Let me tell you - Twenty Minutes is longer than I ever thought it could be.
> 
> Side Warning: Does contain Language and Is very Long. Enjoy!

For a brief moment, Michael felt like he was floating. That he was stuck inside a void: hovering between the taste of substance and the bliss of absent order. Don’t get him wrong, he wasn’t poetic, but the best way he would describe the brief sensation was a calm chaos.

Then it was over and he woke up.

However, it wasn’t like the slow return of consciousness after the satisfying REM cycle that average humans were supposed to (and never did) get on a dull Sunday morning. No, it was sudden, like being tackled. One second, you’re floating on air perfectly at peace, the next a heavy weight is thrown against you and you find yourself on the hard ground tasting dirt. Michael gripped the soft grass in his hands, raising his head from said dirt, and opened his eyes. He was on a small hill, hidden in the shade, overlooking a quaint pond, the start of a forest, and a beach comfortably wrapped around the forest’s edges. Further ahead of him, down the hill, he could spy three different bodies, all sitting up, or standing, and adjusting to the new world, just like Michael was.

He stretched his arms above his head and heard the satisfying crack, groaning out, before standing up. The sun was bright and it was hot, even in the shade and by the ocean, there was little wind to alleviate the sticky humidness. Yet, despite the temperature (which had nothing on Texan summers) and humidity, he found the new world around him breathtaking.  He turned away from the group, spinning himself to get a full scope, a slight wonder taking hold at the impossibility that somehow occurred. To think that making those videos would have lead him to an awesome job – an awesome job that allowed things like this.

It was past the borderline of fantastical.

His wonder paused when he noticed the small blinking on his Lens.

Michael hummed; how did he activate the Lens again? He thought back to Monty’s explanation: it was connected to his consciousness, responsible for handling codes, communication, and controls. He understood that. But he forgot if he had to say something or think it – was the communication also thinking? He shrugged his shoulders and focused his conscious thought on activating it. There was a small ping as the blinking green light expanded, shifting its color to Michael’s yellow Lens as images and texts appeared.

At the bottom left corner, he noticed the white text notifying him that the others had logged on – their Xbox usernames still in use. Adding to Minecraft’s three-dimensional perspective, there appeared, at the bottom center, his hearts and direct nine-box inventory. At the top right, to Michael’s annoyance, was a giant blue, unflattering tip-box silently informing him about grass.

Was there a way to get rid of that box?

He tried thinking it away, but it persisted.

God dammit.

As he concentrated more and more on the server, he became suddenly aware of his own weight. There was a strange sensation of newness, a subtle hum, as he found himself forgetting basic actions. Monty had warned him about that – after his own tests and projects in Halo, he had to explain that certain controls appeared to overlap basic functions. Hence the Lens, again, used as helpful guides.

That is, Michael frowned, if he could remember how to activate that since thinking ‘controls’ wasn’t exactly working. It probably wouldn’t have been as difficult if Gavin had let him take that crash course tutorial with Caleb, at least he would know how to handle basic shit. But no, they had to play the goddamn game now.

Regardless, he couldn’t really be completely frustrated, not here, not genuinely.

He turned towards the vast ocean, aware of the others starting to move around, aware that only a few seconds have passed since he had ‘woken’ up. Aware that he had yet to set his lens to record and more than aware that he had no fucking clue how to do that.

“Oh, oh my god, I don’t know what I’m doing.” Michael groaned out, caught between wonder and confusion as he looked around. Distantly, he could hear the others shift, but thanks to Monty’s ingenuity, he could clearly hear the intake of Jack’s breath despite him being many blocks away.

“Oh God,” murmured Jack, “Sand!” The bearded gent walked towards the sand blocks, dipping his hand into the box of sand and watching it start to crack and fall apart.

Near to Jack, Gavin smirked, brushing himself off and looking down at his ‘skin’. Unlike the other idiots, he actually played the game – not like this, he thought, but close enough. He smiled. “I look good in this suit!”

Michael rolled his eyes and turned around, facing his friends once more. He could see Gavin in his suit, and he raised his brow at Jack’s Scottish attire. Ray, a white blur in the distance, started talking. He could hear Jack and Gavin’s chuckles, but frowned at Ray’s audio – or lack thereof. He should probably tell Ray, but stopped when he spotted a figure approaching him. His eyes widen.

“Wow, holy shit, Geoff!” Geoff smirked at Michael, crossing his sleeves and obviously happy with his skin. Michael chuckled.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Dude, you look like Carl from Aqua Team Hunger Force.” Geoff laughed along.

He playfully shoved Michael, eager to test out one particular essential function of the game. Now, he was a careful man when it came to certain things, but fuck it, carpe diem and shit. He already knew that the respawn should work, just as they knew the pain frequency had been set to low. Besides, while they may be here to bring more entertainment, they were also here for research – an unspoken and acknowledged truth.

So really, it was for science that Geoff started to punch Michael. Not like he noticed.

“You’ve got some sweat pants, some gold chains-“ Michael was cut off as Geoff booped him off the hill, his stunned face disappearing past the dirt ledge before there was a sudden splash. Geoff, gleefully giggling, walked up to the ledge and looked down at the wet boy below him. Michael looked up confused. Geoff, not even trying to hold it in, started to laugh. 

Meanwhile, Gavin fiddled with Ray’s Lens, grumbling internally. 

He knew split screens were horrid.

“Ray, you look like Boris.” Gavin quipped, momentarily pausing his ministrations to smile down at the Puerto Rican. Ray grinned back and shrugged his shoulders: he couldn’t help it if he worked the white tennis outfit well.

Gavin sighed out. The audio wasn’t going to work for Ray, but at least his recording will. He told Ray as much, advising that he stay near another person when he spoke so their Lens could catch the audio.

Ray nodded.

  

Geoff was chuffed.

“Get out of the water dickhead.” He hovered on a slim piece of dirt, watching Michael drown below – monitoring the Lens chat system, eager to see what Michael would say.

In the icy water, Michael focused on activating his controls. He still hadn’t figured out how to activate it, he still didn’t know basic shit, like, for example, swimming, and now he was drowning. He tried walking forward, but the water sloshed against him and even though he was barely an inch under, the water was nearly pitch black. But he would get this. So he focused on his Lens, ignoring the little bubbles disappearing, hoping he could activate a menu screen or some shit. Then, there was another blink as a menu screen actually appeared and, at the corner, the box labeled controls sat. Fucking finally. Mentally, he went to click the box.

Then, everything went red.

 

Geoff was having trouble breathing.

Why?

Well, it was kind of hard to laugh underwater – you see, when you open your mouth all this water pours in and you find yourself deprived of sweet and necessary oxygen. But Geoff could care less, he hopped forward and grabbed Michael’s items, floating up and onto a block that raised him out of the water.

At the bottom of his Lens, underneath their usernames, it read:

**DGGeoff Killed MLPMichael.**

Quickly, another text appeared, eliciting a loud bark of laughter. 

**MLPMichael: I’M DEAD!**

Oh, Geoff was having fun. This was fucking hysterical as dicks. He noticed in his direct inventory a map, mentally shifting over and unconsciously activating its code. The paper, slightly damp, suddenly crinkled in his palms.

**MLPMichael: I was trying to go to busy and you fucking killed me!**

**DGGeoff: I got the Map!**

Geoff grinned as he heard everyone break into sniggers, Geoff happily wading through the pond, briefly watching Jack punching a trunk for wood.

He should get some wood.

 

Being dead was interesting.

Michael found himself in the darkness. It was not quite like the void, it had less of that peaceful hovering and more of that substantial awareness. It also had a table, nearly empty sans for a bottle with pink liquid and a tiny box. He approached the table, half expecting to see little labels attached to the objects saying ‘ _Drink Me_ ’ and ‘ _Eat Me’_ in pretentious cursive. Instead: the paper was taped in front of the items and the writing was crude at best. 

For the bottle, it read ‘Exit’, for the box, ‘Restart’. He opened the box to find a small macaroon inside. He quickly checked to see if he was wearing a blue dress because this was some regular Alice and Wonderland Disney shit, but, no, he was wearing some regular jeans with a blue shirt, there were no rabbits, no talking doorknobs, and definitely no drag.

Well then.

He took a bite.

And woke up in the same field, with dirt, gravity, and himself reacquainting once more.  He sat up, squinting his eyes in the sunlight, as a blurry Geoff came into focus. “Michael died and I got a map!” Michael could practically see Geoff’s smug grin and seethed. “You fucking thief!” Geoff turned in the direction towards Michael, cracking a grin before walking in the opposite direction.

“Come here!” Michael shouted, going after Geoff.

Gavin’s chuckle filtered through the Lens. “You took Michael’s map.”

Geoff slipped behind the trunk Jack was working on, trying to catch his breath from all his laughing. Jack glanced behind him and saw the approaching fury that was Michael. While he was eager to see the result, he didn’t want to be caught in the crossfire and quickly walked away just as Michael reached Geoff.

“Come here, you shit!” Michael pounced forward, throwing his fist towards Geoff’s cackling face, but Geoff leapt back and out of the way. 

“Come here,” He murmured, “come here!” The two weaved in and around the tree trunks, Geoff slowing down as he could barely breath through his laughter - Michael yelling behind him, barely managing to hit Geoff.

Gavin shook his head, what idiots.

Finally, Michael had caught up with that motherfucker, who had cornered himself against the tree.

But Geoff, breath caught, weaved under the third punch, slipping past Michael’s grasp and jumping up the ridges of the hill. He could hear Michael’s growl vibrate over the Lens, and a cold knot of fear twisted inside. It would probably be better if he learned how to run – he paused as he concentrated on the controls. Michael nearly sighed in happiness; he rushed forward eager to take advantage of this opportunity when he felt the ground disappear.

Geoff glanced over his shoulder when he heard a loud splash and nearly doubled over at the site of a fuming Michael trapped in a two by one puddle.

Oh, the controls clicked off, that was how he had to run.

“Get out of the fucking Water, numbnuts!” Michael shouted at himself as he watched in frustration as Geoff ran up and down the sand bank – the gang cackling in the distance behind them. 

Michael filtered through his controls, trying to re-grasp basic actions, when he activated his inventory – a 3x9 grid appearing with a small profile of himself. Suddenly, he heard a ding as an extended, grey oval appeared at the top of his Lens.

For a second, he forgot about his revenge as excitement took over.

“Hey guys, I got an achievement!” He shouted, finally floating and climbing out of the puddle. His excitement was short lived as the clothes clung to his frame and he spotted Geoff in the distance.

Gavin, on the other hand, was reminded why they were there.

He doubted that Michael remembered, or even generally knew, how to activate the recording on his Lens. So, he entered into the menu and went into the shared network. From there, he activated Michael, Geoff, and Jack’s cameras. Since Ray and Gavin were forced to share the same software (and, subsequently, screen), he exited from the controls since their camera had already been recording from the start.

“Hello everyone and welcome to our Minecraft Let’s Play.” He said softly, his voice lilting across the Lens as he watched Michael chase after Geoff.

Idiots. 

Gavin, even from this distance, could see the murderous intent radiate around Michael as he continued to chase an amused Geoff over the hill and out of sight.

“So far Geoff has killed Michael and stolen his map.” Geoff and Jack break out in laughter again; he chuckled along, barely hearing the aggravated hiss Michael drew in.

Gavin glanced back at Jack in time to see the bearded man follow Ray. With no one watching Gavin, he slunk away, eager to complete his own secret mission of sorts.

 

Jack, excited by this new world and its entropy, felt the overwhelming urge to hit someone with wood. As he followed Ray, he wondered if he should actually attack him. He glanced down at the lumber; that wasn’t really the point of the game, was it? To attack others – yes, it was fun, but hardly an important point.

Which only meant…

“Are we making a house?”

Geoff could practically see the smile in Jack’s voice. 

“I don’t know, I don’t know shit about his game, never played it before.” Michael huffed.

“Me neither,” Jack replied, slowing his pace. He decided he was going to build a house, he wondered if the others would join them. “I’m behind Brownman.” He tacked on, just in case.

Ray made a muffled noise of agreement.

Suddenly, Geoff started yelling.

Michael cackled in glee, finally having caught up with Geoff, and was punching the literal shit out of him. Literally, no really, fine don’t believe him, that’s cool, dickface.

“Hey, leave me alone, leave me alone,” Geoff’s voice cracked as he vainly tried to get away. As hell he would, Michael thought, landing another viscous punch to Geoff’s chest. Geoff let out a loud yell before his body disappeared, items dropping to the ground. In the corner of Michael’s Lens, it read **DGGeoff killed by MLPMichael** , and he relished the sweet revenge. Michael grinned, practically dancing in satisfaction, and happily reunited with his map. 

“Map received motherfucker!” Michael shouted, though unaware that Geoff had reappeared behind him. “The Map is Back.”

Geoff rolled his eyes and silently mocked Michael, but there was no room for resentment under the excitement Geoff had. Besides, who knew death meant the sweet taste of a cookie respawn? He could honestly get behind and be content with that. Speaking of getting behind, Geoff slipped behind Michael and down a block of hill to start working on a nearby tree. Might as well gather supplies while they were in the forest. 

Meanwhile back at the beach, Jack started to collect sand, setting the foundation of their beach home, and smiled. He was going to make a majestic sandcastle. After a while, he returned to the border of the forest and sidled up to Ray.

“I’m helping you.” He said happily. “Alright,” Ray said.

And then the two went back to work.

  

Michael was proud and felt like gloating. He held the crinkled map in his hands, staring down at the little colored dots. He circled around and noted that he was the white dot. Using the map, he fixed his direction until he was pointed towards Ray and Jack, before putting the map away. He only walked two steps before he realized Geoff was right in front of him, punching a tree. Michael jumped backwards, a deep gasp escaping his lips, causing Geoff to giggle out, but nothing else. Was Geoff going to retaliate? That was quickly answered when Geoff let out another laugh, finally looking up towards Michael and gesturing towards the tree.

“Look, dude, I’m jacking this tree off!”

Michael let out a relieved laugh and joined Geoff on the other side of the trunk. He might as well be useful. He squinted at the trunk, peaking his head out from the side to watch Geoff punch the trunk block, before looking back at his piece. He started to punch the trunk as well, yet, as he watched the wood stay in tack, felt like he was doing something wrong. 

Jack tuned out Michael’s questions over the Lens, proud at the good time Ray and himself were making. He leaned over towards Ray, glancing around for good measure, “Hey, let’s secretly make a house and let no one in it.” Ray nodded, snickering, and grinned back at him.

Gavin snorted over the comm.

“You’re forgetting that you made me split screen with Ray, so he’s not going to secretly do anything.”

Again, split screens, they were horrendous.

Sure, the Immersive technology was impressive, but it was new. Thanks to Monty, the Lens provided the essential means while immersed, didn’t mean they had enough Lens with its own software. Nah, while they weren’t prototypes, the Lens were still relatively new and with limited budget and progress, Gavin found himself sharing software with Ray – which wouldn’t have been an issue if it didn’t screw up their ‘shared’ screen. It made recording easier, sure, at the cost of a bloody headache. Though, Ray didn’t seem to be bothered.

Nonetheless, everyone laughed at Gavin’s expense as Ray continued to build the sandcastle with Jack.

“Also,” Geoff started. “I will,” He paused, “I will, big bad wolf your fucking house down.” His eyebrows furrowed as he continued to work on the same trunk piece. “Why can’t I knock this fucking tree down?” Michael grunted beside him, just as perplexed. Geoff quickly ran through his controls, and then groaned in disbelief.

He got it now.

Finally, the wood started to crack before breaking apart into one piece of lumber. Michael stared in shock. “How, How’d you do that?”

He approached the log, mildly listening to Geoff’s instructions. He tested it out mid explanation, giddy to see the cracks forming and nearly ecstatic when the lumber broke apart. This really was fun.

The four of them continued to collect resources; punching wood, digging out sand, the achievement hunter business – all working together in happy unison.

But in the distance, hidden under the shade of withering leaves, Gavin Free had other plans in mind. He glanced around, pleased that he could be spotted by no one, before placing his crafting box. Finally, he could get started on his mission. He started making material, shifting gubbins in and out of his inventory.  

He glanced up at as another achievement notification was unlocked (10G – Time to Mine!) and grinned.

“Oh, I’m getting achievements left and right, guys!” 

“Shut up.”

 

The sun was getting lower as the crew continued to collect lumber. Jack was mumbling under his breath, trying to figure out how to collect a crafting table when Geoff started up. “Guys, guys, guys, guys,” He paused. “Where are we going to build our house?”

Ray looked at the empty, sandy space where he had started to build. Briefly, he glanced up at Gavin’s screen just in time to see Gavin slipping underground. He was definitely up to something.

“You guys should go build your own house.” Jack replied.

“I’m not going to build a house anywhere near you.” Gavin stated, removing some sand columns inside the mine.

“Well, I’ll build a house with you Geoff,” Michael spoke up.

“Alright,” Geoff said. “Let’s build a house.”

 

What Geoff and Michael meant when they said they were going to build a house was that they were actually going to fuck up Jack and Ray’s house. Geoff grinned and gleefully hopped onto the lumber outline Jack had laid, happily breaking another piece of lumber and stalling Jack’s progress.

“How’s that house building going?” He asked, giving Jack his best shit-eating grin when the other man turned around. As Jack made eye contact, Geoff broke another block.

“Goddammit.”

Geoff and Michael sniggered.

 

After many broken pieces of lumber later, Jack relented and allowed Geoff and Michael to ‘help’ build their house together.

“How do you build stuff?”

Jack looked up at Michael and raised a brow, “You don’t know how to build stuff?” The young man bristled and looked away, “I’ve never played the game before!” He shouted, glaring back at Jack from across the wooden foundation.

Jack shrugged and glanced down at Geoff, who had his head towards the ground and a look of heavy concentration on his face. In the background, he could hear Michael starting to pick up his rant, annoyed that he wasn’t allowed to learn the basic controls like everyone else had in the Tutorial – something to do with it being Gavin’s fault. He tuned it out.

“Is Geoff sad?” Jack leaped up onto a block of wood, moving closer to Geoff. “From here it looks like he’s sad. Aw, why is Geoff sad?” He mocked, but subsided when he realized Geoff wasn’t going to respond.

He glanced up at Michael; the curly haired lad shared a toothy grin as a mischievous look formed.

“Quick! Box him in!” Michael hushed shouted, snickering as he started to place dirt around Geoff.

Jack laughed along, even watching as the columns grew higher, but Geoff still wasn’t responding and Jack found his attention drifting. He knew that Ray had gone further down the beach to try and make another house; the two monkeys were messing around behind him, which left one British prick.

“Where’s Gavin?”

 

Oh, he was ahead of the game. Gavin grinned as he stuffed more Iron ore into his bag. Over the Lens and Headset, he heard Jack plainly. With his gubbins, Gavin slipped out of his little cave, working his way up the little ravine and back onto grass. He remained silent, hoping they would glaze over Jack’s question – which they no doubt will. As he made his way back towards his old crafting table, he wondered what Geoff was making.

Back at Team Sandcastle, Michael found himself beaming with pride. Geoff, too busy focusing on crafting some material, had yet to notice the piles of dirt (and lumber) that encased him. Michael circled the gent, adding a few more blocks here and there. This was going to be good.

“So, Geoff, what are you doing in this game so far?” Gavin’s disembodied voice rung out as Geoff stared at his recipe menu.

“Uhhh, I’m going to try to make a fucking stick, or something.” He murmured, completely serious.

There was a beat of silence.

Then laughter. 

Michael, chuckling, leapt down into the encased box. He silently waited for the man to look up. Except that was taking too long – and Michael wasn’t known for his patience. He decided a little knudge in the right direction (or punch) might get Geoff to react. 

It didn’t.

Well, he wasn’t going to wait in this sandbox any longer and Michael started to break out from the side. 

Now, Geoff was doing something wrong and it was frustrating. He frowned, looking at the recipe screen and back to his materials. He stared a littler longer before it finally clicked and he made a small ‘oh’, still managing to catch the crew’s attention. “I made a bunch of crafting tables.” Well, shit on his dick.

He closed out of grid, finally looking up to dirt and lumber.

He blinked.

He could hear Gavin gawk over the headsets about the crafting tables, but he was more concerned with the wood and dirt around him. He moved forward and caught sight of a side opening that looked like it would lead him out of the little pit. As he climbed out, he looked at the ‘innocent’ faces around him.

“You pricks.”

 

They were expanding the sandy foundation. And by they, it was just Michael, and by expanding, it was just Michael tearing down the mess that he had made from trapping Geoff. He could practically feel Geoff vibrate beside him, waiting for Michael to break down the last of the dirt blocks so he can finally place his crafting table. Michael groaned out and swatted at Geoff as the gent swung forward and back, goading Michael to hurry up. 

Hardly a second passed when Michael broke the last block that Geoff rushed forward and triumphantly placed the crafting table. He felt the warm curl of pride fill his chest as he gazed at his work. He turned to Michael, pointing to the crafting table that he had placeded, plact, place- he rolled his tongue as the words got caught in his mouth. Michael barked out a laugh, the others laughing too as he briefly stumbled over his words.

Geoff cracked a smile, but focused back on his table, flipping through the digital recipes it provided. His own digital inventory rested below the recipe list and he shifted his sticks over into the crafting table’s recipe box. One of the recipes went white and Geoff, at the edge of seat, activated its production.

Oh yeah bitches, he made a fucking wooden hoe.

“The first thing you make and it’s a wooden hoe.” Geoff could almost see Gavin’s eyes roll in disbelief. He snorted, but eyed his hoe and internally slouched. Sure, he can grow crops now, if only he knew how to do that.

Deep in the mines, Gavin leaped down from the rocky ledge as he spied another small cluster of iron. He grinned.

“I am mining so much Iron, you sluts should be jealous.”

Geoff ignored Gavin, shifting around the sandy foundation and looking for another spot to place the other crafting box. Behind him, he heard Jack groan out.

“How do I create?” Jack stared at the tool, not understanding the red box around the sticks he wanted to make. He had the lumber. This was frustrating.

“I’m going to make a stick,” Jack said. Frowning when it didn’t produce any sticks.

“Yeah, you make that stick!” Ray shouted above him.

Inside his mine, shifting the iron pieces in his bag, Gavin chuckled. “You guys are doing well.”

“It says that I don’t have the ingredients,” muttered Jack, voice rising and picking up speed in his confused annoyance. “But I have the ingredients, I have lots of ingredients.”

“Place.” Geoff muttered.

“You need wooden planks for a stick.” Gavin answered. Jack looked up at Ray, how does he make wooden planks. Ray clarified further, as Jack nodded finally understanding. He gave a triumphant whoop when he changed some of the wooden planks into sticks.

He turned around only to find himself boxed in. Above him, Geoff hopped along the mismatched wooden foundation, breaking lumber, and replacing it with wooden oak planks. The lumber towered a block above him, there was no door.

Instead, Jack jumped onto Geoff’s second crafting table before hefting himself up and onto one of the wooden blocks, before turning towards Geoff.

“We have to be careful, how are we going to get in?” Jack spoke, catching Geoff’s attention and gesturing to the little hole.

Geoff shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know, make a door.” 

Jack glanced at their house so far, internally cringing at the dirt, crude lumber, and planks that stuck here and there. It was probably for the best that he took over. He shrugged and handed a couple of planks to Geoff, as the two continued to make the house, not just livable, but presentable.

  

Michael had wandered off again. 

The world was huge, real, and impossible – practically screaming for exploration. Not that house building wasn’t, yanno, fun – but idly walking around the forest seemed more appealing at the moment. In his defense, Ray and Gavin had already wandered off, it was really only a matter of time before he followed suit.

Yet, Michael glanced up at the horizon and frowned. It was still bright out, but the sun had already started its obvious descent and, knowing his buddies, the house would still not be finished. Sure, he hadn’t played the game before, but he’s heard about the monsters that spawn at night. With a sigh, Michael activated his map, found his white dot again and started to figure out which direction to head towards once more. He held the map firmly, taking a few steps forward when, out of the corner of his eye, a pink blur swished past him. He nearly dropped the map and snapped towards the animal, face dumbfounded when it released a loud oink.

“A Pig!” Michael shouted, slowly approaching the animal. It hardly looked real, no wait, he took that back. It looked, alive? It didn’t look like the pigs back home - that was for sure. It was like – visually the pig looked nearly fake, as it’s body abided by the boxy laws of Minecraft. Yet, despite its box like appearance, it also felt real, with a thrum of life around it, oinking back at Michael’s staring.

Michael licked his lips, his stomach growling.

Maybe he could make bacon if he killed it.

“Come here bitch,” He lunged forward, using the crude lumber as his weapon, chasing after it when it tried to run away. He managed to smack it a couple of times, noting that it changed to red whenever it was hurt. Distantly, he recognized that there should be blood; that he should hear the sickening snap of bone under his blunt weapon. He swung the lumber down hard onto the pig, it turned red for a second, squeaking out an oink, but still ran around with no external damage.

Perhaps, Michael thought, raising his lumber, that’s why it made killing this animal easier. He swung the lumber down once more, listening as the pig gave one last squeal before falling over and disappearing into a cloud of dust. It was still a game at the end of it.

Michael chuckled, but frowned as he searched the dirt for ham. 

Fucktastic, it didn’t drop shit.

“I didn’t get any bacon.” Michael frowned, not pout – Michael never pouted.

Geoff perked up. “There’s bacon in this game?”

“Why not?” Michael shrugged. Maybe the ham dropped into the floor, he absently started making holes in the dirt, aware that this was a stupid idea.

“I don’t know – I’m not against it,” Geoff responded. Geoff imagined the crispy bacon while holding the wooden planks in his hand, practically hearing the sizzling of fat on the pan and wafting aroma of well-cooked pork. He was snapped out of his daze when Gavin’s giddy voice danced across the Lens.

“Alright, I’m going to the Earth’s core!” Gavin interrupted. “I’ll see you bitches later.”

 

Michael returned to the beach, excited to see how far the house was coming.

“We’re going to have a pimp-ass house,” Geoff said, turning towards Jack. “Yeah we are,” Jack replied, adding more planks to the walls. They had finally placed a wooden door up and would soon get started on making the roof. Michael giggled as he approached the two, circling gracefully around their work, noting some of the clashing lumber and the side row with no wooden blocks.

“I like the design of this,” Michael squinted, yes that was a dirt block. “There’s wooden block, wood, brick – all kinds of shit.” He circled back to Geoff and shared a smile. Above, Jack hopped around, building the roof. “I’m going to build a skylight,” He shouted down to Geoff, grinning. 

Geoff waved at him back, and then stopped as he got an idea. “I know how to make fucking glass,” Geoff said, heading inside their beach home.  “I’m going to make us windows too.” 

Jack grinned down at Geoff, excited for the extra additions, and continued to work. Geoff rushed outside and around the house – only to realize he couldn’t reach the roof. Uh, he paused, then checked his inventory and pulled out the wooden planks – he placed a block down before hopping up it and climbing on top.

Time to get to work.

“I don’t know if its my Lens are not, but I can’t see.” Gavin squinted at his small screen, trying to see where he was mining.

“You have a small screen” Ray’s muffled voice came over. Gavin groaned out.

“Yeah, cause the douchelords wanted to do split screen.” He pouted in the darkness.

“What’s a douchelaw?” Geoff quipped. 

“No, douchelord.”

“Oh, I’m gonna make some sticks!” Michael interrupted, face set as he stared at the crafting table in front of him. Gavin let out an airy laugh, which Michael totally ignored, pausing his mining to lean against the cool, smooth stonewall.

“I like that your biggest achievement –“ Gavin was cut off when Michael finished his crafting. “Boom, got a motherfucking pickaxe.” Gavin rolled his eyes.

The world was growing darker, the sun starting to dip into the ocean’s horizon just as Jack and Geoff had finished their wooden roof. There were still six holes, all ready to be filled in with Geoff’s glass. 

Jack turned to Geoff. “Can you put windows up here?” 

Geoff smiled and checked his inventory, a sheepish expression filtered over.

“Uhh, I gotta, oh fuck I gotta make them first!” He glanced back at the setting sun, becoming more and more anxious at the approaching darkness. He leapt off the roof, muttering to himself. He needed glass, no wait; he needed, wait, yes. He started to collect sand, behind him, on the roof, Jack just shook his head.

“You’re going to need a furnace,” Ray shouted, Geoff looked up and nodded.  
“Someone make a fucking furnace,” Geoff said, “I’m collecting sand.”

Jack shuffled around on the roof, oh god it was getting dark. He listened to the frantic voices below him. “Don’t worry guys, I’ve got a sword.” He activated the wooden sword, feeling the firm oaken handle in his hand. It was light and as Jack swung it around for practice (and fun), he wondered if this toy could actually do any damage.

“Jack will protect us,” Ray said from below, Jack looked down and grinned. “I will protect you.” He looked around, then laughed. “From on top of the house."

“Somebody make a furnace,” Geoff repeated. Using the hoe, he repeatedly hit the box of sand, watching it crack and gather more into pouches. He already had thirty pouches worth of sand, but it didn’t hurt to have a little more just in case.  He paused and wiped the sweat off his brow, before realizing that no one even knew how to make a furnace – except Gavin.

Straightening up, he balanced the hoe on his shoulder trekking back to their little home.

“Gavin, how do you make a furnace?”

There was a pause and a little shuffle.

Then he spoke. “You need eight cobblestone pieces in a circle,” Geoff checked their inventory, absently nodding along to Gavin’s instructions. Michael was filtering through his controls, anxious for the growing night. As he exited from the controls and leaned against the wall closest to the door, he accidently dropped his axe and scrambled to pick it up. As he loosely picked up the handle, it managed to slip his hand again, flying forward and out of the house. Michael jumped out, Ray slipping past and behind him, closing the wooden door with a sound click.

“Get in the house!” Jack called from inside. Michael quickly grabbed the handle and pocketed the axe before snapping around. “Oh, I’m getting in-“ That’s when he realized the door had been shut. 

“OH let me in!” He rushed towards the closed door, holding his map, heart hammering in his chest. He frowned. “How do I open the door?” He tried to concentrate on that control, but found it harder as it grew increasingly darker and he grew increasingly anxious. There was a creak and Michael glanced up to see Ray had opened the door, he shot a grateful look towards Ray before rushing in, Ray shutting the door behind him.

“Alright,” Geoff turned towards the fidgeting group, “who’s got cobblestone?” Jack shrugged, Michael and Ray’s expression unreadable in the growing darkness. Geoff groaned. “What were you two doing while Jack and I busted ass?”

Michael crossed his arms and rolled his neck. “Dude, I was making a wooden axe,” to emphasize his point, he activated the item, “duh.”

Geoff was not impressed.

“I’ve got a map,” Ray supplied. Wow, really, Geoff rubbed his head.

“Well congratulations,” He remarked. Michael leaned towards Ray and showed his own map, he had got one too. Oh yes, Geoff thought, he had picked a real winning team here. Gavin glanced at the lower section of his Lens, peering through Ray’s screen and chuckled. He looked back up when he heard the block crack and collected another piece of cobblestone. He placed a torch up, as he climbed down his cobblestone stairs. They were such twits.

 

There really wasn’t much they could do, so Geoff decided to be useful. He made stairs. “Where’s the door?”

“It’s over here.” Jack replied. Oh yes, vague directions in the dark helped. Geoff tried again. “Who’s at the door?” Michael moved towards the wooden door, opening it and going outside – Geoff made an ‘oh’ and moved towards the sound, happy to place some stairs down. Michael watched the older man, but stilled when he heard a crunch behind him. Heart hammering in his chest, Michael turned around and peered into the absolute darkness, seeing nothing. That’s when he noticed the two red dots approaching him, he took a step back, his eyes widened as the red dots let out a wet hiss and the blurry outline of a spider formed.

“Oh Shit! A spider!” Michael moved back, heart in his throat, as he stumbled around and ran down the beach and away from the spider. He glanced back at the outline of the home, he couldn’t go too far, and twisted back to face the creature, the wooden axe materializing in his palm. He grit his teeth and bent his knees, waiting for the spider to pounce, a look of focus taking over. The spider wasted no time; it pounced, legs propelling it forward to be parlayed back by the axe. Michael danced to the side, evading its bite and plunging the ax into its thorax. It gave a dying hiss before toppling over, vanishing into dust. This time, a bit of web was dropped as well.

There was another ping as the achievement box appeared: 20G – Monster Hunter.

“Oh my God,” He was a motherfucking Monster Hunter; he grinned in the dark and twirled the axe, who was the fucking boss now?

Geoff watched Michael pace outside on their front lawn, before turning back towards Ray and Jack, squinting in the darkness. “Does anyone have a light?”

Jack let out a nervous laugh while Gavin, absolutely pleased, chuckled. “No,” Jack said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Geoff stared at Jack. In the distance, they could hear Michael mutter proudly, “I got an achievement.”

Geoff sighed, “It’s going to be nighttime for a while.”  He turned towards the door, and looked out, wondering – not for the last time – why he had hired these dopes.

 

Ray checked for wool, “I didn’t see any sheep, so that might be a problem.” And it was, since a bed required three pieces to even make it and they had none. “I saw a pig, but I fucked it.” Michael shouted from outside.

The group broke into laughter, but it was nervous and short-lived.   

Geoff shifted on his feet as he continued to stare outside the small wooden windows of the door. His hand went to grasp the handle, but stopped and squinted into the darkness – he swore he saw something move. He stared for a few more seconds before the darkness shifted, but even then he couldn’t tell if it was just his eyes playing tricks on him.

Either way, he decided to remain inside. 

Which was a problem since their little hut of wood and sand provided little comfort, with no light and no heat, to combat against monsters unknown and wandering around. It was also a problem that he had no fucking idea of what to do, how everything worked, and if a monster could dig through sand. It wasn’t exactly compacted and stable and, his heart sped, a zombie could easily break into it. 

That’s it, they needed sandstone. 

Gavin spluttered over the comm and laughed as Geoff continued to pace in the darkness, just now realizing that he had said that aloud. Geoff snapped at the Brit while Michael rolled his eyes as he started to look for ‘sandstone’. Not like he knew what that looked like. 

A loud hiss interrupted his thoughts as another large, black spider leaped out from behind him. He ducked under and ran, glancing over his shoulder at the arachnid quickly catching up.

“Oh fuck, a spider,” He grit his teeth, jumping down a block by the coastline, heart hammering as sweat trickled down his face. He suddenly felt a lot slower, more weighed down and fatigued; he couldn’t run for much longer. In a rush, he activated his wooden shovel and spun around, prepared to stab the spider, but it was too late as the firm and hairy body collided against his chest – fangs sinking past cloth and into flesh, its stinger embedded into his stomach. For a second, he could feel the flash of pain, a dull thump from his neck, but mostly the hot flash that started to sear from his inside out. He let out a loud, agonized scream as the world tinted red, swirling with the heat, until both the world and the pain it wrought clicked out of existence and he was suddenly back in the room; body complacent once more.

It was a jarring experience; dying. 

Over the Lens, he heard Gavin chuckle and could almost visualize the lanky man pausing in, whatever the hell he was doing, to lean back and grin to the shadows. “What you die of?” His voice carried, more than aware of what caused his death thanks to the Len’s announcement: **MLP Michael killed by Spider** _ **.** _ But the New Jersian humored the Brit as he approached the table.

“Killed by a spider,” he picked up the box and opened it. His eyebrow lifted, as a macaroon no longer sat inside the box, instead a slice of pumpkin pie replaced it. This was…interesting, but Michael wasn’t going to complain as he picked up the desert and took a large bit. 

This time, he landed on his feet firmly, shrouded by the forests night – he could see the house in the distance. “A spider killed you?” Gavin repeated. Michael rolled his eyes and started forward. “Ya,” Half distracted, he absently tried to activate his wooden sword, but nothing happened. He shifted boxes, but only the same emptiness responded. He stopped and glanced down. “What the fuck?”

He opened his inventory and his mouth opened in outrage.

“Did I lose all my shit!?”

“Yaaa, you’re screwed,” Gavin drawled condescendingly and Michael continued forward, even more annoyed than anxious.

“Nobody told me that.”

 

Gavin gave out another short grunt, how the hell did he get down here?

“Where’s the door?” He climbed up from the lighted area of the cave, trying to retrace his mining. “Where is the effing door?” He muttered, breaking another block of stone so he could climb onto the next level.

Jack and Ray laughed at the Brit’s misfortune, before Jack looked back out of their little open slit of open blocks – their little makeshift window. He noticed the arrows scattered around the ground and that’s when he spotted the skeleton. At one level, he recognized he should probably be frightened, instead a grin spread across his face as he swatted at Geoff’s side, eyes never leaving the clacking bones.

“Oh, look at this Geoff, oh look there is a skeleton out here.” Geoff stopped organizing his inventory and let out a little oh as he joined by Jack’s side. “Oh I want to see.”

He lightly nudged at Geoff’s shoulder, “that we can see from the protection of our house.”

In response, Geoff grinned up, a mischievous glint in his eye. “Let’s heckle it!”

Distantly, Michael listened as Geoff and Jack started to heckle the skeleton, dickhead and stupid tossed out with flair. Suddenly, there was a loud crackle behind him.

“Oh, he fell.”

Michael let out a screech as he met eye to socket with the skeleton. He backed into the sand columns as the thing raised its bow and drew its arrow.

“AH, Ah AH, Fuck, SHIT!” He ran backwards, arrow barely missing his head, as he started to break the blocks around him. He had to get out; he glanced over at the skeleton slowly advancing after him, hitching back another arrow. Finally the final sand block broke and Michael hastily climbed out, ignoring the Crew’s laughter as he tried to calm his heart.

“Jesus,” He breathed out, checking damage and cringing at his low health. Ray passed by him, chuckling under his breath as he checked the house parameter once more. Suddenly, an arrow lodged into Michael’s back and he let out a desperate curse as his health dropped to one heart, belatedly realizing that the Skeleton must have used Michael’s path to escaped as well.

He heard the clank of dry bones and didn’t even spare a glance behind him before he rushed after Ray, desperate to get inside the shelter once more.

“He’s loose, he’s gotten loose,” It was as he jumped and evaded another arrow that he noticed something even more prominent.

“THERE’S A SPIDER ON TOP OF THE HOUSE!”

Oh hell naw, he was not going to fucking die again, as he screamed and evaded the monsters. “Get in the house, Jesus no!” He stumbled over the sand, until he twisted the door open and rushed inside, still screaming. It wasn’t until the door was firmly shut behind him and the last arrow thudded against its hard oak, did Michael breath in and gulp in sweet oxygen.

Jack pat the young lad’s back. “Good lord,” Michael exhaled out and shot Jack a smirk. “Who put that spider on the roof?”

The door flung open and Geoff pressed himself against the wall as Ray rushed inside, quickly shutting the door once more. The four stood in silence, taking quick breaths of relief.

“Where Am I?!” Gavin’s frustrated screech broke the silence. Geoff and Jack snorted and fell into mad laugher, as Ray chuckled and Michael let out a groan.

“I’M LOST!”

“You Went DOWN you Idiot!” Michael shouted into his lens, listening as Gavin gaffed.

“I can’t even see where I am,” The Brit whined, “I’ve got a black screen.” They could hear the pouting over the Lens. Michael pulled a face.

“Oh my GOD, It’s dark in the center o’ the Earth!” Micahel mimicked Gavin’s accent, his loud voice laced with frustration. He scowled, the others giggling in the darkness. 

“Can someone, like, bury down – tunnel down to me, cause I can’t even see where I am.” Michael rolled his eyes and cursed, heart finally calming down.

Jack grinned. “No, we’re good.”

“I’ve fallen into a dark hole.” Gavin whined (and if this was at another point in time, far into the future, a certain member wearing a Scottish kilt would be ecstatic), eliciting another round of laughter from the two older gents. 

Jack went back to watching the creatures; they still had many hours until the sun rose again.

 

Geoff sat on top of the crafting box, watching as the rest of the team shifted around the small room, above them he could hear the hissing of the spider crawling along their roof. While the holes hadn’t been filled in with glass, while they didn’t have any lights, and, sure, there wasn’t actually a bed to sleep in – this house was pretty awesome.

“This house sucks.” Michael groaned, hitting his head against the lumber wall as the spider circled around the small hole in the roof for the umpteenth time.

Geoff rolled his eyes, but stood up, rolling his shoulders. He didn’t know how long they had till daybreak, but they needed to be better prepared if they wanted to survive for the next night. He waved for the men’s attention and when that didn’t work, shouted over the dicks until their voices dropped to murmurs.

“Alright,” Geoff clapped his hands together. “If we’re going to survive, we should make plans.”

“We should make a sofa.” Jack piped in, squinting in the darkness to see where the furniture would fit. Geoff nodded along, even though he, one, was sure Jack didn’t see the movement and, two, was sure that they wouldn’t even be able to make one in the first place.

Instead, he continued on.

“What are you doing tomorrow-“ 

Suddenly, Gavin’s shrill voice trilled across the connection. “Oh! I see daylight!” The young man sat up in his dark hole, staring up at the pale light miles above him. He quieted down once more, slipping back onto the hard ground as he eagerly waited for daybreak. Then again, he filtered through his inventory until he hovered over the several boxes of gravel, why wait.

“I think tomorrow,” Jack continued.

“I’m going to go…” He paused and checked his inventory, then frowned. “Well, I’ve got my pickaxe and I’ve got my sword.” But the words hung in the air as the man shrugged.

Michael lifted his head from his knees. “I’ve got nothing.”

Geoff sighed.

“I’ll make a furnace.” He said.

“Okay.” Jack replied.

Geoff glanced up, past the spider, to assess the light.

“And then I’ll make windows.” Jack nodded. “Okay.”

Okay then. 


End file.
